Engine starting device



*May 1s, 1943 J. @on 2,319,595A

' ENGINE STARTING DEvIcE` I Filed Nov. 14, 1929- v Patented May 18, 1943 UNITED' STATES PATENT oFFlcE I ,2,319,595 I' J Y,

ENGnvE STARTING DEVICE John Good, Garden City, N. Y., assignorto Bendix Aviation Corporation, South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationvNovember 1 4, 1929, serial No. 407,091

(ci. 12s-119) 14 Claims.

The object of the invention is to simplify the operations incident to the starting of automobile or other internal combustion engines to thel end that the firing condition will be achieved and maintained with greater certainty and promptness and with less regard to the ability of the operator than heretofore. In brief, it consists in the provision of means acting automatically, that is to say, Without conscious eort by the driver, to insure a greater supply of combustible mixture to the engine, as its condition may require, than is ordinarily permitted by the usual idling adjustment devices. 4

The invention may be readily applied to existing'engines and in a g'eat variety of forms but its principles will be readily understood from the illustrative embodiments thereof diagrammatically shown in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 shows a conventional automobile power plant with one form Aof the invention applied.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the.' by-pass shown in Figure 1, and Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 are views in section of modif-led forms of the invention.

This application is in part a continuation of my copending application Serial No. 125,648 led July 29, 1926, issued November 8, 1932. as Patent No. 1,886,672, relating to improvements in Automobile controls.

Referring to Fig. 1 the enginel, carburetor 2, intake 3 and a suitable engine cranking agency, which may -be an electric'motor Il, are arranged in any. usual or suitable manner, the circuit of the starting motor being controlled by a switch connected with the intake 3 around the throttle 6 and is controlled by a ball I6 or other suitably biased valve. When the engine is dead, the ball rests on a supporting pin I1, so that the by-pass is open. The weight of the ball is sufficient to hold it in this position against the suction in the by-pass during cranking but is such that the ball is sucked up to close theby-pass by the sudden vacuum i crease incident to rlng of the engine and is he d closed byl the suction which Vobtainsthereafter throughout' normal firing of the engine. To start the engine the operator closes the motor switch J6 whereupon theengine is turned over and derives its fuel by way of the intake past the throttle and also' through the by-pass, the increased mixture supply furnished position; and in trafllc, where the driver's attention should be diverted as little as pos/sible from the manipulation of the car, itis of particular advantage and often a matter of safety that :the engine respond readily to the starter and with a.' minimum of manual adjustment of the 5 located on the door of the car for foot operal tion or elsewhere, the switch 6 being of substantially the same construction as the one shown in my U. S. Patent No. 1,792,583, issued February 17, 1931. The mixture flow throughlthe intake is determined by throttle 6 under the cperators control, which may be effected by means of foot pedal 1, connected with crank I3 by throttle rod B. The carburetor as usual, is provided with a so-called engine idling adjustment, such as set of the throttle when the foot pedal or accelerator into engagement with the setl screw. In this screw 9, which determines the minimum opening v is released, a spring I4 urging the throttle crank position the throttle establishes its normal. re- '50 striction to mixture flow through the intake corresponding to the. idling condition; it is the minimum throttle opening which will permit the engine to run smoothly under its own power.

In the form of Figs. 1 and 2, a by-pass I5 is l in the throttle valve.

controls. In its vpreferred form the invention contemplates the supply of suiiicient fuel not m only to facilitate the actual starting of the engine but to cause it to spin fast enough so that its momentum, after the starter pedal has been vre-` leased, lcontinues its operation at such a Vspeed that the operator has ample time to'move his foot to the accelerator and directly control the throttle as conditions may require. jThere is thus little danger of stalling the engine and though it misnre or tend to stop, either immediately after starting or at any other time, the resulting f suction failure instantly drops the ball and the additional -mixture passed tothe engine sustains its operation, even without attention from the operator.- -v A Y In Fig. 3 the invention is accomplished by means of a reed valve 26 which overlies a hole 2l When the engine is at rest, and during cranking, the valve occupies the position shown in Fig. 4, namely, sprungor biased away from the hole, this being the equivalent of the open by-pass arrangement of Figs. 1 and 2. In response to self-actuation of the engine,A the valve is sucked against the throttle to close hole 21 and so restore the normal 'idling vacuum and mixture Supply.

In the form of Fig. the throttle setting is determined by a plunger 28having a cam surface 29 terminating in a'seat 30. Y The plunger constitutes a stop for the throttle adjustment s'crew 33, is connected to the engine intake above the throttle. By this means the suction edect of the engine is transmitted to the bellows to collapse the same and so lower plunger 28, and restore the throttle to its normal idle setting. When the engine stops or staggers the plunger is again moved upwards, by spring 34, the latter also serving to overcome any possibility of the bellows being collapsed and the plunger being operated by the cranking vacuum. By varying the size of the opening 35, which connects the intake with pipe 33, the throttle setting control can be made more, or less, sensitive in its responseJ to engine operation; by decreasing the size of the hole a suction, as well as the volume of mixture passed to the engine, is automatically varied in accordance with the condition of the engine. During cranking the suction is less than normal, due to the wider throttle opening (Fig. 5) or the open by-pass (Fig. 2) and when the engine starts the suction is -automatically and somewhat abruptly increasedby the automatic closure of the throttle or by-pass. Thiseffect is of particular advantage when the engine or vehiclefis equipped with a suction-operated device4 designed to occupy one position when the engine is at rest or during cranking and another position when the engine is/"running, Due to the fact that2the intake suctionlis sub-normal during cranking there isless tendency for the motor device to act during the starting period, and furthermore, f

since the devices ofthe present invention also produce a substantial and more or less abrupt suction increase when the engine f'lres, there is immediately available ample power to operate the motor device to bring about the required adjustthe usual choke valve ll. This is for use with down-draft or other carburetors which by design or otherwise "start rich, that is to say, contain or discharge an excess of fuel on starting, and in this case the now through the by-pass may be air only, or perhaps air with a small proportion of fuel in it, the effect being to increase the volume of combustible mixture by diluting the otherwise over-rich starting supply. Improved starting is thus obtained and the engine operation sustained as in the forms of Figures 2, 3 and 5. Having now described my invention, I claim:

l. In an automobile, the combination of an engine, a suction intake supplying fuel thereto. a throttle in the intake, a manual, springreturned control for the throttle, a stop for limiting the closure of the throttle to pass a minimum idling fuel supply to .the engine when said control is not applied, a suction motor device having a connection to the intake and actively responding to pre-determined vacuum change j therein and a throttle actuating member operated by said motor device.

2. 'lhe combination with the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine and its throttle valve having a normal idling position, resilient means urging the throttle valve only from the idling position to a more open position, means independent of said resilient means Ioractuating the throttle valve, and means under the control oi' the manifold suction for counteractmg the urge of' said resilient means.

3. The combination with the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine and its throttle valve having a normal idling position, an idling restorer for the engine comprising a chamber having communication with the intake manifold whereby a vacuous condition will prevail in the chamber, a movable wall for the chamber movable in response 4to changes in such vacuous conditions,` resilient means normally urging the Wall against Vacuum responsive movement, and

a stem operable by the movable Wall under the urge of said resilient means for advancing the t idling position of the throttle, said stem being free of said throttle valve to permit independent actuation of the latter.

4. The combination with an internal combustion engine having its intake manifold and a throttle valve therein movable to and from an engine idling position for,varying the engine speed, means for manually operating the throttle "valve, means independent of said first means for advancing trie idlingposition to accelerate the engine, andmeans under the control of tne suction maintaining in,the intake manifold during normal vengine operation' for normally holding the second means inoperative and adapted to release the latter when the manifold suction falls below a predetermined normal.

. 5. An idling resorting device for internal com bustion engines, comprising', in combination with the intake manifold, the throttle control therefor and the manual means for manipulating the throttle conti-ol, of an internal combustion engine, a member detachably engageable with ,the throttle control when the latter is in its idling position to actuate it throughout a part of its movement, said control being operable independently of said member, means for actuating said member, and means responsive to a normal idling I suction iniiuence in the manifold to render said actuating means inoperative.

6. An idling restoring device for internal combustion engines, comprising, in combination with for and the manual means for manipulating the throttle control, oi.' an internal combustion engine, a member detachably engageable with the throttle control when the latter is in its idlingv position to actuate it throughout a part of its.

. aaiaoeo.

the intake manifold, the throttle control theremovement, said control being operable independently of said member. resilient means for urging said member to partly open the throttle control, and suction responsive means operable by a normal idling suction influence in the manifold to counteract said resilient means, said responsive means failing in the presence of a predetermined manifold pressure higher than such normal idling suction influence. v

7.-An idling control for the-throttle valve oi' an internal combustion engine having an intake manifold, comprising a movable stop dening the idling position of the ythrottle valve, a vacuum motor in communication with the intake maniy fold, linkage connecting' thevacuum motor with said movable stop in Vsuch a way that high vacuum tends to move the stop in a direction to permit further closing movement of the throttle, and means in said vacuum motor i'or yieldingly opposing the action of vvacuum thereon, said' means yielding at a predetermined high degree of vacuum below which degree the movable stop is held in a xed advance position to prevent maximum closing movement of the throttle valve.

8 In an automobile, the combination yonf an engine, a suction intake supplying fuel thereto, a throttle in the intake, af manually operable spring returned control for thef throttle, means in- I ciuding a member for determining the position of the throttle when said control is not applied, a suction motor device having a connection to the intake and responsive to vacuum ,changes therein, and an operative connection between the said member and the motor device.

9. In a carburetor having an induction passage, a throttletherein,v throttle stop means for' variably limiting the closing movement of the throttle, an element subjected to suotions derived from the induction` passage posterior to .the throttle and movable thereby, and an operative connection between the throttle stop means and the said element.

l0. In a carburetor having an induction passage, a throttle in the passage, means for variably limiting the closing movement of the -throttle, and means responsive to the variable vacuum posterior to the throttle for controlling the limiting means whereby the throttle may more nearlyclose-when the vacuum is above a predetermined value. v y

l1. I'n a carburetor having an induction Dassage, a throttle therein, a throttle stop for limiting the closing movement of the throttle, andl means operative upon increase in the vacuum posterior to the throttle beyond a predetermined value for rendering said stop inoperative whereby the throttle' may close to a more nearly closed position.

l2. In a charge forming device for an internal combustion engine having an induction passage and a throttle therein' stop means for the throttle comprising a member movablel with the throttle, a second member, and an adjustable element mounted on one of the members and of the throttle, and means responsive toengine vacuum operatively connected to said element.-

i4. In a carburetor for an internal combustion engine having a throttle 'controlled induction passage, a movable Wall subject to suctions derived from the induction passage posterior to the throttle, resilient means resisting movement of' the wall, a stop member for variably limiting closing movement of the throttle, and a connection between the stop member andthe wall,'said connection being. so constructed and arranged.

that the throttle may more nearly close when the suction is high than when it is low.

JOHN GOOD. 

